Chapter 531: The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Naruto Namikaze
When the Fourth Raikage received Konoha's message, he had no time to curse.
Just as he received the intelligence, before he could even read it closely, the Kumo ninja spotted a large white bird flying rapidly toward them from the distant sky.
The Kumo ninja were prepared. The Fourth Raikage roared, "Prepare for battle! The target is in the sky!"
A large number of Kumo ninja immediately began to quickly and orderly leave their ships according to the established plan, forming a defensive formation on the sea's surface to meet the enemy.
But no matter how fast the Kumo army moved, they couldn't be faster than the figures in the air.
While the Kumo ninja were still scrambling, a beam of white light crossed several kilometers and struck one of the ships directly.
Although many Kumo ninja had already evacuated, there were still quite a few on board who didn't make it off in time.
This single Dust Release from Ōnoki claimed at least several dozen lives.
Following the white light, several large-scale ninjutsu immediately smashed down. These were A-rank jutsu from Ikura, Han, and Rōshi.
But by this time, Kumo's defenses had also been raised.
First, several giant Eight-Tails tentacles swung out rapidly, blocking two of the attacks. Next, streams of blue lightning shot out, striking the remaining large-scale jutsu.
Thus, aside from Ōnoki's Dust Release, none of the other attacks from the Iwa side landed.
The Fourth Raikage saw his army gradually forming up and turned his gaze to the sky, muttering, "An air force again."
He then slapped his ninja tool pouch, and a set of armor equipped with wings immediately appeared in his hands.
The Fourth Raikage donned it in a few swift motions, his body flashing with lightning. The next moment, he rocketed into the sky, flying directly toward Ōnoki and the other three.
A bit slower than the Raikage, Kumo ninja began to fly up from the main army one by one. Once in the air, they formed tight formations and moved to surround Ōnoki's group.
Ōnoki was stunned. "Kumo actually developed flying ninja tools?"
Beside him, Deidara said excitedly, "Old man, let me handle them."
As he spoke, the clay bird beneath his feet opened its great mouth and spat out a large flock of small birds. Under Deidara's control, these small birds rushed toward their targets.
Beside Deidara, Ikura and the others also attacked, using ninjutsu to restrict the flight paths of the flying enemy ninja.
At the same time, the Kumo forces below had organized and began launching waves of combination ninjutsu at the clay bird beneath the group.
Separate from the main battlefield, Ōnoki and the Fourth Raikage began their own fight.
The flight tools the Kumo ninja wore had requirements for the user's chakra level. The more refined the chakra, the faster the flight speed, and the more agile their turns, accelerations, and decelerations. The Fourth Raikage was the fastest and most agile of all the Kumo ninja.
When Ōnoki used Earth Release jutsu, the Raikage, clad in his Lightning Release Armor, didn't even need to dodge. The big lummox simply chose to smash through them with his head. Only when Ōnoki used Dust Release would the Raikage cautiously evade.
Ōnoki couldn't do anything to the Fourth Raikage, but the Fourth Raikage couldn't do anything to Ōnoki either. For Ōnoki, flying in the air was perhaps even smoother than running on the ground. Therefore, Ōnoki's agility was far superior to the Fourth Raikage's.
However, the Fourth Raikage was thrilled. He could finally have a proper fight.
In recent years, the entire shinobi world's style of combat had been skewed by Ishiro.
Ishiro always fought from the air with long-range ninjutsu, which was incredibly unfriendly to a taijutsu specialist like the Fourth Raikage.
In the past, to deal with a ranged ninja, the Raikage just had to tank their attacks and charge in. He would use his absolute power to close the distance, then use his absolute strength to beat the enemy to death.
But Ishiro could fly. And as if him flying wasn't enough, he was always bringing other people into the air with him.
In his previous battles against Ishiro, the Fourth Raikage had been basically useless. He clearly possessed the strongest attack and the strongest defense, yet his impact was less than that of an Elite Jonin who knew a single A-rank jutsu.
Being able to spar with Ōnoki today showed the Fourth Raikage a bright future. This armor was only the first generation of flight armor Kumo had researched. As the technology improved, the Fourth Raikage believed that one day, he would be able to fly in the sky as if he were on flat ground.
The Fourth Raikage grew more excited as he fought. Although he never managed to touch Ōnoki from beginning to end, his interference kept Ōnoki too busy to pay attention to anything else.
On the other side, the battle between Ikura, Han, Rōshi, Deidara, and the Kumo army was also raging fiercely.
Kumo's coordination couldn't compare to Konoha's, but the Eight-Tails's agility surpassed even that of Ikura's group. The Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Killer B, compensated for Kumo's shortcomings.
As a result, in their confrontation, it was actually Ikura's group that was at a disadvantage.
Several kilometers from the battlefield, a small squad of Iwa ANBU-clad ninja was observing the situation from the water.
One of them looked no different from his comrades, but beneath his mask, the veins around one of his eyes were bulging violently.
This man was Kō, the one transplanted with a Byakugan.
Kō stared intently at the battlefield. Suddenly, he said to the person beside him, "Send a message to Kawakita-sama. Tell him Lord Third and the others are at a disadvantage."
"Kumo is using flight-capable ninja tools. The Fourth Raikage and many Kumo ninja are able to fly."
"Yes, sir." An intelligence ninja beside him acknowledged, immediately wrote down the report, and used a summoning jutsu to send it to the Iwa army waiting in the rear.
...
On the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, Ishiro was listening to a report from his subordinate.
"Lord Tsuchikage, the Konoha army has moved closer to the border, but they have not crossed it for the time being."
"There is still no movement from Kiri. The army they assembled is still in the Land of Water."
Ishiro nodded. He didn't actually need the intel ninja to report; he could grasp the Konoha army's movements with his Mind's Eye.
He then ordered, "Continue monitoring. Pay special attention to the movements of Kakashi Hatake and Hiruzen Sarutobi."
After speaking, Ishiro glanced at Chiga beside him, then said to Uchiha Sōkai and Uchiha Izumi, "Through Chiga's blood-sense, we can confirm that there is one Uchiha within the Konoha army."
"Obito Uchiha is dead, Sasuke Uchiha is in Konoha, and Shisui Uchiha is locked up in our village. This person must be Itachi Uchiha."
Hearing Ishiro say that Itachi Uchiha was in Konoha, both of their spirits lifted, and their eyes burned with fighting spirit.
Last time, in a two-on-one fight, they had only managed to gain the upper hand because Itachi was unfamiliar with their dōjutsu.
Some time had passed, and both of them felt they had improved greatly. They were eager for a rematch.
Ishiro then looked at the listless Shinya Matsutani next to him and said, "Shinya-kun, if I'm not mistaken, Might Guy is also on the other side."
"Last time, Might Guy had only just unlocked the Seventh Gate and barely had the strength for one blow, yet he nearly killed you. This time, he has surely mastered it. Can you hold him off?"
Shinya Matsutani nodded. "I know how to deal with the Eight Gates now."
Ishiro nodded. Shinya-kun wasn't one to brag. His intellect was sharp; Ishiro didn't need to worry too much about him.
"Then it's settled," Ishiro said. "If Konoha chooses to attack, the Third Hokage and the Seventh Hokage will be handled by me."
"Might Guy goes to Shinya-kun. Itachi Uchiha goes to Sōkai and Izumi."
"Also, Sōkai, Izumi, you've seen what the Konoha army is capable of. I need you to be ready to support the camp with your Susanoo if it's in danger."
Sōkai and Izumi nodded.
Seeing this, Ishiro said to Shinya Matsutani, "Shinya-kun, after the battle, take Sōkai and Izumi to the Land of Snow branch. See if you can help them restore their dōjutsu."
After arranging the battle plan, Ishiro summoned an ANBU. "Keep a close watch on Kiri's movements. If necessary, you can contact the personnel I personally planted within Kiri."
"Yes, sir." The ANBU heard this, immediately left to make arrangements.
Ishiro then summoned two more people. One was Kamizuru Tsuruhime, and the other was Neji Hyūga, whom Ishiro had temporarily brought from the Ninja Academy.
Ishiro said to them, "Tsuruhime, Neji. You both possess special abilities suited for reconnaissance."
"From now on, scout the surroundings carefully. If you notice anything unusual, report to the commander immediately."
Ishiro was doing all this to guard against Kiri.
Although Ishiro didn't think Kiri would change its stance so hastily, he still had to take precautions. At the very least, he needed to be prepared on the intelligence front. He couldn't wait until Kiri had already launched an attack on Iwa to think about a remedy.
After arranging these matters, Ishiro sat in his tent, awaiting Konoha's next move.
A moment later, Ishiro sensed something. His heart stirred, and he muttered, "Konoha is actually opting for a high-level-power showdown?"
In his perception, several powerful chakra signatures from the Konoha side had rapidly broken away from their main army and were heading toward the Iwa camp.
Ishiro frowned, wondering why Konoha would abandon its greatest advantage to engage in a battle of top-tier specialists.
Ever since witnessing the Konoha army's capabilities, Ishiro felt that even though Iwa's numbers far exceeded Konoha's, in a true large-scale battle, Ishiro wasn't confident in his own side.
Iwa lacked a commander like Shikaku Nara.
Unable to figure it out, Ishiro called for Shinya Matsutani, Sōkai, and Uchiha Izumi, and they too left the camp.
In truth, Konoha was just as afraid of a full-scale army battle with Iwa.
First, Iwa's numbers were far greater than Konoha's.
Second, Iwa still had strength to spare. They had forces at their various branches and a large contingent stationed back in the village. Furthermore, the number of Iwa ninja scattered across half the shinobi world on missions was enormous, and these ninja had not been recalled.
So, in the eyes of Kakashi and the others, even if this army of over 10,000 Iwa ninja suffered heavy losses, it wouldn't cripple them.
But Konoha was almost at its limit. The only ones left in the village were the essential defense forces. Most of the ninja who had been out on missions had already been urgently recalled. Aside from this main army, Konoha's only other forces were the ones facing Kiri and the Land of Wind.
When it came to a war of attrition between large armies, Konoha was even more afraid than Iwa.
Finally, the Konoha leadership believed that many of their own trump cards had already been revealed to the Tsuchikage and had lost the element of surprise. But as for what tricks Iwa had up its sleeve, Konoha knew nothing.
After Ishiro left the camp, the Iwa commander steadied the main army, maintained a defensive posture, and sent out a large number of small squads to harass the Konoha camp.
Since Konoha excelled at large-scale combat, they would break the battle down into small-scale skirmishes.
Shikaku Nara quickly saw through Iwa's intentions. He didn't panic, but calmly dispatched his own squads in response. When it came to squad-based combat, Konoha had never feared anyone. Shikaku was confident in this.
...
Ishiro, Shinya Matsutani, Sōkai, and Uchiha Izumi.
Kakashi, Hiruzen Sarutobi (with Enma), Itachi Uchiha, and Might Guy.
The two sides met. Kakashi waved his hand and said, "Begin."
The moment Kakashi's voice fell, Might Guy charged at Sōkai, and Hiruzen Sarutobi began casting a jutsu at Uchiha Izumi. Itachi Uchiha activated his Sharingan and looked at Shinya Matsutani, while Kakashi himself headed straight for Ishiro.
Ishiro smiled faintly. It seemed Konoha had done its homework.
The opponents they had chosen were all perfect counters.
For example, if Might Guy fought Sōkai without his Susanoo active, Sōkai probably wouldn't last even a minute. And Itachi had chosen to avoid the dōjutsu of his two clansmen.
In that case...
Ishiro's hands flew through seals, and a massive-scale Light Release jutsu shot toward the four men and one monkey. Immediately following the Light Release was a huge wave of Porcelain Release mud.
At the same time, a Porcelain Release platform rose from beneath each of the three, and they were instantly moved to new positions.
The range of Ishiro's Light and Porcelain Release far exceeded Hiruzen's ninjutsu.
After the flash of blue light, all that remained was a sky full of mud. The vision of Kakashi's team was instantly obstructed.
Ishiro controlled the mud, sending it weaving through the battlefield. Although it couldn't harm any of them, the formation of the four men and one monkey was immediately broken.
Then, Ishiro controlled the platforms, sending Sōkai and Uchiha Izumi to confront Itachi Uchiha. He sent Shinya Matsutani into the air near Might Guy. And he himself maneuvered to separate Kakashi, Hiruzen, and Enma from the others.
Hiruzen and Kakashi exchanged a look, their expressions ugly.
When it came to battlefield control, the Konoha side couldn't hold a candle to Ishiro and his seal-less Porcelain Release.
Ishiro gave them a small smile, and his hands began to fly through seals again.
One after another, Light Release ninjutsu rained down on them as if they cost nothing.
Over the past six months, Ishiro's progress in fusing Light Release had been gratifying. Although it wasn't fully fused, his proficiency had reached a new level. He could cast various forms of Light Release at will, had simplified the hand seals, and his casting speed was extremely fast.
Faced with Ishiro's diverse barrage, Kakashi and Hiruzen abandoned any thought of splitting up to find other opponents. One of them used ninjutsu to cancel the Light Release attacks, while the other was responsible for attacking Ishiro from a distance. They occasionally switched roles, their coordination seamless.
Enma, in his Adamantine Staff form, would periodically strike out toward Ishiro.
Kakashi and Hiruzen were both tactical masters. Their teamwork was perfect, and they traded blows with Ishiro's Light Release.
However, the advantage of Light Release was too great. Even the lowest-level C-rank jutsu would mean death or dismemberment upon contact. Kakashi and his team often had to use a B-rank jutsu just to neutralize a C-rank Light Release. Similarly, they needed at least a B-rank jutsu to even slightly threaten Ishiro.
Adding to that, Ishiro's seal speed was far faster than theirs. So, even though it was one against three, Ishiro held the initiative from start to finish.
Not far away, at the same time Ishiro clashed with them, three Susanoo appeared one after another.
The moment they manifested, they immediately engaged in high-level melee combat.
Sōkai and Uchiha Izumi had the same plan: end the fight quickly. Ishiro had told them to support the Iwa army if they had the strength to spare. Although the main armies weren't fighting yet, killing Itachi to avenge their clan was an obsession for both of them.
Thus, they both immediately resorted to the Susanoo, their most dōjutsu-consuming technique.
Itachi hadn't wanted to waste his strength on these two fools who were blinded by hatred. He wanted to preserve his dōjutsu to protect his dear little brother. But once the two of them activated their Susanoo, his Fire Release and shurikenjutsu became useless.
And their dōjutsu were a perfect counter to his own; Itachi didn't dare make eye contact with them. This meant his specialty, genjutsu, was also unusable.
Thus, Itachi had no choice but to do the same as Sōkai, enduring the bleeding from his eyes as he manifested his own Susanoo.
Among the three, only Uchiha Izumi was relatively better off. She had more dōjutsu, and still seemed relaxed.
Itachi's expression was grim. As he controlled his Susanoo, he tried to think of a way out. His dōjutsu had been absorbed by Uchiha Izumi before; he couldn't last long. Even though Sōkai and Izumi's control of their Susanoo was poor, Itachi still felt there was no hope of defeating them before his own dōjutsu gave out.
In the last battle, Shinya Matsutani used Ishiro's porcelain platform to maintain his distance from Might Guy. He simply hovered in the air, harassing Guy with various elemental Sage Arts.
Might Guy, with the Sixth Gate open, could also run on the air, but his agility was far inferior to the porcelain platform. At this rate, the Sixth-Gate Guy would probably exhaust his stamina before he could even touch Shinya Matsutani's clothes.
Believing he couldn't last long in the Sixth Gate state, Might Guy finally had to open the Seventh Gate. But the Seventh Gate's stamina drain was immense. Shinya-kun only needed to keep kiting him from a distance to quickly win.
The top-tier forces of Konoha and Iwa clashed violently from the very beginning, and Konoha was immediately put at a disadvantage.
Seeing this, Kakashi exchanged a glance with the equally haggard Hiruzen. He then formed hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" A curtain of water appeared, blocking one of Ishiro's C-rank Light Release jutsus.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" Hiruzen also shouted, giving up his attack to add another layer of defense for them.
In that brief moment, Kakashi took out a scroll.
He flicked his hand, and a signal flare shot into the sky.
Ishiro's eyes narrowed. While remaining wary of his surroundings, he began to guess what trump card Konoha had to play by signaling at this moment.
The very next moment, in the distance, a small squad of Konoha ANBU rushed toward them.
Ishiro clearly sensed that one of the ANBU was carrying a child on his back.
Ishiro's heart stirred: The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Naruto Namikaze.
Ishiro thought, "At this age, shouldn't Naruto-kun be at the Academy playing ninja games? Can he already use the Nine-Tails's power?"
Soon, the Konoha ANBU squad broke through Ishiro's porcelain mud obstruction and brought Naruto onto the battlefield.
One of them formed hand seals, then slapped Naruto's stomach. The next instant, a massive amount of the Nine-Tails's red chakra emerged from Naruto's body and covered his skin.
This process continued until four chakra tails had formed on Naruto.
"A partial Tailed Beast transformation?" Ishiro kept observing Naruto's state while fending off Hiruzen and Kakashi.
Suddenly, the partially transformed Naruto lunged, knocking Uchiha Izumi's Susanoo to the ground.
Ishiro was shocked. Can Naruto-kun really control the Nine-Tails? Is my butterfly effect that strong?
But he soon realized he was wrong.
Because the transformed Naruto seemed to be under no pressure at all while controlling the Nine-Tails's chakra, as if the fox held no rejection toward him.
It was impossible for Naruto to have reached an understanding with the Nine-Tails at this age.
The Nine-Tails wasn't cooperating, yet Naruto could use its power freely. There was only one answer: Genjutsu.
I just don't know if it's Itachi's genjutsu or Kakashi's.
Ishiro looked at Itachi, who was struggling to maintain his Susanoo, then at Kakashi, who still hadn't revealed his Sharingan. He had his answer.
That's right. How could Konoha entrust a weapon of war like the Nine-Tails to Itachi Uchiha. Even if Kakashi was willing, Hiruzen and the others would never agree.
After the four-tailed Naruto joined the battle, the situation on the field immediately changed.
Sōkai and Uchiha Izumi, who had held the advantage, were immediately pushed back by the combined assault of Itachi and Naruto.
Seeing this, Ishiro smiled inwardly.
With the Sage of Six Paths around, he couldn't get close to the two saviors. But now, Konoha had personally delivered Naruto right to him.
In that case...
(End of Chapter)
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 35 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you